Thursday

Indonesia executes 3 Nigerians despite pleas from UN, EU

Indonesia
rejected mounting international pressure and desperate pleas from
relatives to halt the execution of 14 drug convicts it sentenced to
death by firing squad.

Three Nigerians were put to death along
with one Indonesian on Thursday (after midnight Indonesian time), Noor
Rachmad, deputy attorney general for general crimes, told reporters.

He
did not say why 10 other drug convicts, who had been expected to face
the firing squad, were not executed, although the island where the
convicts were being put to death was hit by a major storm as the
executions took place.

“The executions were for now conducted on four convicts on death row,” he said.

“This is not a fun job. For us, this is really a sad job because it involves people’s lives.

“This was done not in order to take lives but to stop evil intentions, and the evil act of drug trafficking.”

Authorities
stepped up preparations, with ambulances seen transporting coffins over
to the island and cars heading for the penal colony in the evening
carrying convicts’ relatives, police and religious counsellors.

President
Joko Widodo believes Indonesia faces an emergency due to rising drugs
consumption and has dramatically escalated the use of capital
punishment, putting to death 14 drug convicts, mostly foreigners, since
he took power in 2014.

Indonesia last carried out executions in
April 2015 when it put to death eight drug convicts, including two
Australians, sparking international outrage.

Family members say
they have been told the convicts in the forthcoming round will be
executed Thursday night, according to a lawyer and diplomat, a day
earlier than had originally been expected. The government could not be
reached for comment.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon led
international condemnation, urging Widodo to halt the imminent
executions and declare a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Ban
recalled that under international law, the death penalty should be used
for the most serious crimes and said “drug crimes are generally not
considered to meet this threshold”.

The UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights has called on Indonesia to end the “unjust” use of the
death penalty and the European Union has also urged a halt.

There
have been concerns about legal irregularities in the cases of some
facing imminent execution, with Amnesty International citing “systematic
flaws” in several trials and noting a handful of clemency appeals were
still pending.